Writes4Women

Writes4Women host Pamela Cook chats to publishing industry professional Kelly Doust about her new business, Publishing Curious.

Kelly has worked across many facets of the industry including as an author, but also in marketing and as an acquiring editor and publisher. She's started a new business to assist authors in reaching their publishing goals, and to demystify the industry.

In this conversation Pam chats to Kelly about how acquisitions meeting work, what publishers are looking for in a manuscript, the realities of advances, and a whole lot more.

And if you enjoy this chat, join Pam and Kelly for a live zoom chat on Tuesday October 6 ay 7pm, and bring your questions with you.

SHOWNOTES:

JOIN OUR LIVE ZOOM CHAT, 7PM ON TUESDAY OCTOBER 6 here

Writes4Women

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Facebook @writes4women

Twitter / Instagram @w4wpodcast

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Kelly Doust

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Substack: click here

Pamela Cook

www.pamelacook.com.au

Facebook @amelacookauthor

Twitter @PamelaCookAU

This episode produced by Pamela Cook for Writes4Women and recorded on unceded Dharawal land.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/writes4women?fan_landing=true

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Shannon Kelly-White & Lisa Ireland on Mentoring and the Making of Billy King

Host Pamela Cook interviews debut historical fiction author Shannon Kelly-White and author/mentor Lisa Ireland about the mentoring partnership behind Shannon’s debut novel.

Billy King (“Wild girls don’t go quietly”), is a story set in the Australian high country 100 years ago and told through three women’s perspectives: bushranger Dulcie, missing mother Anna, and 12-year-old Billy.

Shannon discusses her path from nursing to an unorthodox food blog and cookbooks, learning through a “drawer” manuscript, and developing a modern-feeling historical voice. Lisa describes recognising Shannon’s talent early, providing confidence and structural guidance, and focusing on story momentum and “killing darlings,” including major deletions and restructuring.

They discuss knowing when to submit, securing an agent, editing, cover reveal, handling reviews, mentoring benefits, and more.

00:00 Welcome to Writes4Women

02:35 Shannon’s Pre-Book Journey

03:19 Inside Billy King

13:37 Starting Mentorship Together

19:28 Building Three POV Characters

23:46 Story Structure and Cutting

35:56 Knowing When Done

40:20 Stop Over Revising

45:39 Handling Reviews

49:13 Mentorship Matters

51:39 Mentoring For All

57:28 Final Writing Advice

59:42 Wrap And Resources

SHOWNOTES:

Writes4Women

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Facebook @writes4women

Twitter / Instagram @w4wpodcast

W4W Substack

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Shannon Kelly-White

Website: click here

Instagram: click here

Lisa Ireland

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Instagram: click here

Pamela Cook

www.pamelacook.com.au

Facebook @amelacookauthor

Twitter @PamelaCookAU

This episode produced by Pamela Cook for Writes4Women and recorded on unceded Dharawal land.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/writes4women?fan_landing=true

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Courtney Peppernell on Pillow Thoughts, Self-Publishing, and Her Debut Novel The Last Poem

Writes4Women host Pamela Cook chats with internationally bestselling author Courtney Peppernell,  about her path from early “lightning writing” and a supportive family to self-publishing novels and then poetry, and now her debut novel.

Courtney describes self-publishing, and creating Pillow Thoughts from blog-style reflections, her poems going viral and landing a deal with a traditional publisher. Her latest release is The Last Poem, a multi-POV small-town Colorado story about grief, friendship and love.

An inspiring episode for writers at all stages of their career.

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro

02:07 Early Writing Spark

03:54 Family Support and Creativity

05:41 Self Publishing Beginnings

08:05 Pillow Thoughts Goes Viral

13:25 Signing with a US Publisher

15:57 Series Strategy and Branding

21:15 Life Changing Success and Tours

25:26 Setting Up Poem Readings

26:18 Reading From Thinking Of You

26:58 Writing Poetry As Characters

29:17 Modern Versus Traditional Poetry

30:50 Why Online Poetry Boomed

31:58 Algorithm Changes And Reach

33:35 Turning To The Last Poem

35:27 Plot And Grief Group Setup

36:34 Crafting Multiple Viewpoints

40:37 Favorite Characters And Libraries

43:58 Why Wren Is A Poet

45:49 Traditional Publishing And Events

48:57 Upcoming Books And Music

SHOWNOTES:

Writes4Women

www.writes4women.com

Facebook @writes4women

Twitter / Instagram @w4wpodcast

W4W Substack

Click here

Courtney Peppernell

Website: click here

Instagram: click here

Pamela Cook

www.pamelacook.com.au

Facebook @amelacookauthor

Twitter @PamelaCookAU

This episode produced by Pamela Cook for Writes4Women and recorded on unceded Dharawal land.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/writes4women?fan_landing=true

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hannah Richell on Writing Memoir, Grief, and An Ocean and a Day

Join host and author Pamela Cook as she  interviews author Hannah Richell about her memoir An Ocean and a Day, which explores the sudden death of her husband Matt in a surfing accident at Tamarama Beach in 2014 and the long journey of grief that followed.

Richell discusses journaling as a survival tool, shaping years of writing into a memoir, and choosing a circular, tidal structure that moves between past and present to show what was lost and reflect how grief is experienced. She shares key influences and also talks about narrating the audiobook herself, deciding what to include about her children, and how touring and reader responses have been unexpectedly uplifting.

00:00 Level Up Writing Courses

01:39 Episode Updates and Memoir Intro

05:15 Memoir Overview and Loss

08:38 Beach Bookends and Ending

13:22 Writing Grief Into Words

17:30 Tidal Timeline Structure

24:02 Journaling to Memoir Draft2

9:38 Visitation Dream Story

32:56 Host Family Grief Reflection

36:42 Kids as Anchors

38:05 Writing Through Nights

38:42 Books That Held Me

42:34 Quoting and Permissions

44:18 Narrating the Audiobook

49:10 Shaping the Memoir

50:51 Privacy and Boundaries

56:20 Swallows and Tattoos

01:00:27 Touring and Reader Connection

01:03:39 Wrap Up and Farewell

SHOWNOTES:

Writes4Women

www.writes4women.com

Facebook @writes4women

Twitter / Instagram @w4wpodcast

W4W Substack

Click here

Hannah Richell

Website: click here

Facebook: click here

Instagram: click here

Pamela Cook

www.pamelacook.com.au

Facebook @amelacookauthor

Twitter @PamelaCookAU

This episode produced by Pamela Cook for Writes4Women and recorded on unceded Dharawal land.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/writes4women?fan_landing=true

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Belinda Alexandra on The Italian Correspondent, Research, and Writing Through Rejection

This week on The Convo couch Pam chats to Belinda Alexandra, author of 12 bestselling novels including her latest release The Italian Correspondent. Belinda discusses her storytelling roots in her mother’s White Russian/China wartime experiences and her father’s Australian life, her early writing, travel influences, 10 years of rejections before White Gardenia was published in 2002, and a whole lot more.

Pam also talks new releases and gives an update on the Writes4Women Main Character Deep Dive challenge.

00:30 Podcast Updates and Festivals

02:56 Substack Writing Challenge

05:22 New Books on the Shelf

10:55 Meet Belinda Alexandra

13:35 Family Stories and Writing Roots

21:54 Travel Letters and Inspiration

25:54 First Novel and Rejections

31:33 Imposter Syndrome and Craft

34:07 Pushing Through the Dip

34:55 Inside The Italian Correspondent

39:35 Plotting vs Characters Taking Over

42:30 Writing Better Men on the Page

44:55 Three Loves Romance Twist

51:23 Drafting Perfectionism and Mess

56:07 Longevity in Publishing

57:51 Perseverance Through Industry Change

01:00:28 Quality Over Speed

01:02:01 Wrap Up and Bonus Chat

SHOW NOTES:

Writes4Women

www.writes4women.com

Facebook @writes4women

Instagram @w4wpodcast

Belinda Alexandra

Website: click here

Instagram: click here

Pamela Cook

www.pamelacook.com.au

Facebook: click here

Twitter: click here 

Instagram: click here

Fiction Feedback @ Writing NSW: click here

This episode produced by  Pamela Cook for Writes4Women on unceded Dharawal country.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/writes4women?fan_landing=true

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week Pam reports in from Lille in France with some exciting news about her upcoming release Because You're Mine!

She also chats to debut memoirist Lindsay Bartels about Imogen in Waiting, which follows Lindsay and her husband as they wrestle with whether to use a stored female embryo that carries the BRCA mutation Lindsay has, after Lindsay’s breast cancer diagnosis in her 20s.

Lindsay discusses her path from filmmaking and architecture to writing via blogging, and explains drafting the memoir longhand using a four-notebook, three-act structure, then transcribing, revising, cutting scenes, and deepening interiority with editors at Third Rail Press.

This is a thought-provoking, uplifting conversation for both readers and writers.

00:18 Podcast Welcome And Travel Update

05:56 Host Updates And Subscriber Perks

09:03 Meet The Guest Lindsay

09:41 Lindsay’s Creative Path

15:36 Writing The Memoir Framework

17:58 Notebook One Cancer Diagnosis

19:59 Notebook Two IVF And The Embryo

21:01 Notebook Three Sydney COVID And Legal Hurdles

26:44 Letting Go And The Emotional Toll

27:53 Notebook Four Return Home And Surgery

32:27 Writing to Imogen

33:55 Transcribing and Revising

36:25 Early Readers Feedback

38:21 Querying and Developmental Edit

40:05 Third Rail Press Origin

43:36 Final Revisions and Trust

45:58 The Big Ethical Question

47:56 Family Gene Background

50:31 Keeping the Memoir Human

51:41 Holding the Finished Book

53:08 Events and Writing Community

56:51 Where to Buy and Farewell

SHOW NOTES:

Writes4Women

www.writes4women.com

Facebook @writes4women

Instagram @w4wpodcast

Lindsay Bartels

Website: click here

Instagram: click here

Pamela Cook

www.pamelacook.com.au

Facebook: click here

Twitter: click here 

Instagram: click here

Fiction Feedback @ Writing NSW: click here

This episode produced by  Pamela Cook for Writes4Women on unceded Dharawal country.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/writes4women?fan_landing=true

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Join host Pamela Cook on the Writes4Women Convo Couch with thia week's guest Katherine Collette.

They chat about Catherine's adult novels The Helpline (2018) and The Competition (2022), plus two illustrated middle-grade books set around a small Victorian town, discuss debut publication misconceptions, second-book pressure, writing routines, using Scrivener, and spreadsheets, and a whole lot more.

Catherine also reflects on what she learnt as the co-host of the popular podcast The First Time as well as her work as a writing coach.

1:43 Host Updates

03:06 Writing Projects

04:57 Courses And Community

06:48 Reading Recommendations

07:36 Meet Catherine Collette

08:47 Career Origins

09:46 Debut Reality Check

12:13 Second Book Pressure

15:06 Middle Grade Shift

15:47 Cartooning Challenge

20:13 Kids Books Marketing

23:23 Illustration Workflow

26:59 New Darker Novel

27:38 Cruise Ship Research

30:46 Writing Routine Progress

31:05 Writing Focus Limits

31:37 Daily Routine Pomodoros

32:06 Story Structure Tools

33:21 Scrivener Workflow Tips

34:15 Crime Plot Spreadsheets

35:54 Genre Hopping Pressures

37:51 Coaching Long Game

40:24 Mindset For Success

43:16 Craft Fixes Openings

48:55 Podcast Career Boost

54:36 Fast Four Wrap Up

59:55 Closing Thanks Outro

SHOW NOTES:

Writes4Women

www.writes4women.com

Facebook @writes4women

Twitter / Instagram @w4wpodcast

Katherine Collette

Website: click here

Instagram: click here

Pamela Cook

www.pamelacook.com.au

Facebook: click here

Twitter: click here 

Instagram: click here

Fiction Feedback @ Writing NSW: click here

This episode produced by  Pamela Cook for Writes4Women on unceded Dharawal country.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/writes4women?fan_landing=true

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to a new season of Writes4Women!

Each fortnight, On the Convo Couch will bring you author-based interviews and invite listener requests and questions. In this episode host Pamela Cook interviews bestselling Australian author Tricia Stringer, who discusses The Road Trip’s strong sales (30,000) and long tail, her upcoming novel The Paradise Resort set in the Kimberley, and her writing routine. 

Tricia reflects on moving across genres, the importance of voice, managing revisions, industry changes including AI and copyright concerns, and memorable career milestones like winning the Ruby for Queen of the Road.

Pam also suggests three new release books for your reading enjoyment: Five Stages of Grace by Casey Nott, The Palace of Lost Virtue by Anthea Hodgson, Out of the Blue by Penelope Janu.

00:00 Own Your Voice

00:23 Season Kickoff0

2:46 Workshops And Events

04:29 Pamela Writing Update

06:00 New Release Roundup

08:58 Meet Tricia Stringer

10:47 Welcome To The Couch

11:26 Life In Wallaroo

12:03 New Book Paradise Resort

16:39 Road Trip Success

20:11 From Kids To Romance

25:29 Finding Story Ideas

29:07 Ideas Find Their Writer

30:26 First Draft Routine

32:16 Word Counts And Consistency

35:07 Cleaner Drafts And Outside Eyes

37:16 Over Revising Fixes

40:36 Publishing Shifts And AI

44:58 Genre Pivots And Older Heroes

49:30 Milestones And Final Advice

53:20 Fast Four And Wrap Up

SHOW NOTES:

Writes4Women

www.writes4women.com

Facebook @writes4women

Twitter / Instagram @w4wpodcast

Tricia Stringer

Website: click here

Instagram: click here

Facebook: click here

Pamela Cook

www.pamelacook.com.au

Facebook: click here

Twitter: click here 

Instagram: click here

This episode produced by  Pamela Cook for Writes4Women on unceded Dharawal country.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/writes4women?fan_landing=true

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pamela Cook shares a Rewind episode of Writes4Women featuring novelist Sarah Winman discussing her 2021 novel Still Life, alongside Winman’s background from acting to writing and her earlier books When God Was a Rabbit, A Year of Marvelous Ways, and Tin Man. 

Winman describes how she began writing through adult education classes, found an agent, and learned to trust creative instinct. She outlines Still Life as a four-decade story beginning with a 1944 meeting in Tuscany between art historian Evelyn Skinner and soldier/globe maker Ulysses Temper, later exploring postwar London, Florence, found family, art, beauty, class, love, and unity.

Inspiration came from learning about Florence’s 1966 flood and the “mud angels,” with Brexit influencing her “joy as resistance” tone. She details researching as needed, writing nonlinearly through many drafts, using ensemble viewpoints, and receiving crucial art guidance from Florentine art historian Stella Rudolph, and offers writing advice on finishing drafts, careful feedback, rereading great writers, and accepting doubt.

SHOW NOTES:

Writes4Women

www.writes4women.com

Facebook @writes4women

Twitter / Instagram @w4wpodcast

Sarah Winman

Instagram: click here

Facebook: click here

Pamela Cook

www.pamelacook.com.au

Facebook: click here

Twitter: click here 

Instagram: click here

This episode produced by  Pamela Cook for Writes4Women on unceded Dharawal country.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/writes4women?fan_landing=true

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pamela Cook introduces a Writes for Women Rewind episode featuring award-winning Victorian author Favel Parrett discussing her novel There Was Still Love, inspired by family memories and set across Czechoslovakia and Australia from 1938–1981.

Parrett explains her “simple on the page, layered underneath” style built through extensive drafting (often 15 drafts per scene), using memory as non-linear snapshots, and writing in a child’s voice to preserve gaps and subtext. 

The conversation covers dialogue that relies on silence and mood, weaving motifs like suitcases and food, creating embodied emotion, the intensity of a reclusive routine while writing, and Parrett’s four writing tips: focus on the work first, believe it’s possible, seek feedback at the right time, and read.

SHOW NOTES:

Writes4Women

www.writes4women.com

Facebook @writes4women

Instagram @w4wpodcast 

Favel Parrett 

https://www.favelparrett.com.au

Hachette Publishing "There Was Still Love" 

https://www.hachette.com.au/favel-parrett/there-was-still-love

Pamela Cook

www.pamelacook.com.au

Facebook @pamelacookauthor

Instagram @pamelacookwrites

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/writes4women?fan_landing=true

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.